LSU gives Cypress Ridge QB warm reception

LSU already giddy about Shepard era

Published 6:30 am, Sunday, December 14, 2008

Russell Shepard walked into Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., with thousands of people screaming his name.

He wasn’t on the field playing against Alabama that November day; he was on an unofficial visit to LSU, his college destination. It was unlike any feeling he ever had.

“The student section there seats about 25,000 and they were all screaming my name,” Shepard said. “That was just an amazing feeling.”

The atmosphere, winning tradition and prestige that comes with playing in Death Valley is one of many reasons the Cypress Ridge quarterback will head east on Interstate 10 to play college football.

The 6-1, 179-pound Shepard committed to the Tigers in March. He’ll graduate this month and enroll at LSU in January in order to participate in spring practice, with the hopes of playing quarterback this fall.

“I’m definitely going to be in there early to start learning their system,” Shepard said. “To go and compete at a school like that and have a realistic chance to play early and start … that’s an amazing feeling.”

The chance to play quarterback was one of the biggest reasons he decided on LSU. Shepard has the physical ability to play other positions, and some schools that recruited him had that notion.

Texas thought he could contribute at other positions if he didn’t win the starting quarterback job. Shepard said Southern California pictured him as a Reggie Bush-type player in its offense.